A11y Hour with Mark Steadman

Like many developers, Mark Steadman began working in web development with just a couple of goals in mind: write something that runs and passes a test. No major thought for those using the interface he created. 

Mark's perspective changed when he sat with a few folks who were blind or had low vision, and watched as they used assistive technology for the web and attempted to navigate a site he'd developed. Their struggle to tackle basic web functions against inaccessible code was Mark's wake-up moment and his inspiration to close the gap between emerging developers and accessibility education. 

In this episode, Chuck and Robbie talk with Mark about his passion for accessibility, where most web accessibility issues originate, practical tips for incorporating accessibility into developer workflow, and why accessibility means more than checking a box, meeting quota, and passing a test.

Key Takeaways

• [00:44] - A quick intro to Mark. 
• [02:52] - A whiskey review - Angel's Envy Bourbon Port Finish. 
• [11:47] - How Mark became an accessibility specialist. 
• [19:28] - Where the web accessibility issue originates. 
• [27:41] - How to make data visualization accessible. 
• [34:29] - The major accessibility complaint we fail to consider with JavaScript frameworks.
• [36:17] - How to keep developers and frameworks on the right track with accessibility. 
• [44:22] - A Star Wars-themed whatnot. 
• [50:37] - Why Mark likes college football (and their stadiums). 

Quotes

[01:50] - "I feel like there's a gap in the field right now where developers are kind of not being reached out to from the accessibility side of things. So my passion in both my job and on the side too, I write for accessibility as well, is to fill that gap." ~ @Steady5063 [https://twitter.com/steady5063]

[38:53] - "That's my biggest advocacy for automation, is it helps developers learn accessibility on the fly." ~ @Steady5063 [https://twitter.com/steady5063]

[01:00:08] - "If you are a developer that's listening to this, take the time to put accessibility as a priority. As much as everybody in the world is going to tell you that priority for accessibility is not there, find time." ~ @Steady5063 [https://twitter.com/steady5063]

Links

• Mark Steadman [https://twitter.com/steady5063]
• Fidelity Investments  [https://www.fidelity.com]
• JavaScript [https://www.javascript.com]
• Angel's Envy - Port Wine Whiskey Kentucky Straight  [https://www.angelsenvy.com/us/en/product/port-finish/]
• Rivian [https://rivian.com]
• Old Forester  [https://www.oldforester.com]
• State Farm [https://www.statefarm.com]
• Deque Systems  [https://www.deque.com]
• DEV Community [https://dev.to]
• Jira [https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira]
• React [https://reactjs.org]
• Angular [https://angular.io]
• Vue [https://vuejs.org]
• Ember.js [https://emberjs.com]
• ARIA [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA]
• JSX [https://reactjs.org/docs/introducing-jsx.html]
• Sarah L. Fossheim [https://fossheim.io]
• Yahoo Finance [https://finance.yahoo.com]
• Google Finance [https://www.google.com/finance]
• Astro [https://astro.build]
• Melanie Sumner  [https://github.com/MelSumner]
• axe Accessibility Linter [https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=deque-systems.vscode-axe-linter]